December 10, 2015



What’s going on in Sister Cities ?

What’s going on in Sister Cities ?  With all the Holiday preparations and parties, I’ll keep it brief………….

NEW OFFICERS
      Many of last year’s officers are carrying over into this year, but we do have three new officers who were approved at the last Board meeting:
       Sue Gordon, Secretary                       
       Anna Madaschi, City Director,  Treviso Province, Italy
       Gloria Grenier, VP Arts & Culture (Ron Gossett’s former position)

TEL MOND DANCERS RETURN (Feb. 15-19)
      The Tel Mond Dancers will return to Sarasota for another visit on Wednesday, February 17 and will give a performance with the Perlman Institute at Riverview High School, probably at 7:30pm.  At a luncheon at the Bird Key Yacht Club on Feb. 19, the mayor of Tel Mond will speak.  For more information, contact Tel Mond city director, Linda Rosenbluth (lhr18@verizon.net)

RE-SIGNING WITH MERIDA, MEXICO
      Every three years in Mérida, our newest Sister City, municipal elections bring in a new group of city officials.  To encourage the new officials to recognize our relationship and develop it further, Sarasota Sister Cities is going to have a symbolic re-signing of our agreement, both in Sarasota and Mérida in January.
          This will help us maintain the momentum that began when an economic development team visited us last Spring and a delegation of 20 visited Mérida in late January, 2015.  Our city director, Michael “Miguelito” Fehily, is heading up this effort (mike@mpfehily.com).

WHAT IS AN ALLIANCE MEMBER?
          Alliance Members are community groups we work with to help us accomplish specific projects.  Two of our strongest Alliance Members are the Alliance Francaise and the Jewish Federation.  Interaction with Alliance Members has ebbed and flowed over the years.  We are working now to reestablish bonds with those groups that work with us.  We will then include them more prominently in our activities.
          If you are a member of a community organization you think might be a good community partner with Sister Cities, please contact our VP for Membership, Dave Harralson (dharralson7@gmail.com).

Comments or questions? Contact Dave Harralson

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November 2015 Newsletter

Sarasota Sister Cities Newsletter
November 2015

THE PASSING OF RON GOSSETT
Board member Ron Gossett suddenly became ill this last summer and passed away on October 9 after a short illness.  This last May, Ron organized the Playwriting Festival we sponsor with Florida Studio Theatre and was a newly-reelected board member of Sister Cities International.  He will be greatly missed—and we send our warm regards to his wife, Shirley.

OUR LECTURE SERIES…….  We began this Sister City lecture series last Fall, and it has been a big hit so far.  Talks on everything from Sarasota history, the creation of perfumes, to the relationship of the Sarasota Jewish community to Israel (and particularly our sister city, Tel Mond).

They will begin again in the New Year, and each is followed by a Meet & Greet, a social hour where we can discuss the talk over wine and munchies.  You will receive specific details before each event.

Jan. 19 – The Origins of the First Five Books of the Torah/Old Testament.

Feb. 10 – Flub-dub and Farfetchedness:  China Behind the Travel Posters

Mar. 16 – France:  A Tale of Two Cities—Paris and Perpignan

Apr. 20 – Polynesian Cultures of the South Pacific

A NEW SISTER CITY?
New sister cities are not suggested—and immediately accepted.  Getting a new sister city is a lengthy courtship process.  After both Sarasota and a candidate city visit each other, determine likenesses that would insure a successful twinning, a city then becomes a “Friendship City.” Sarasota and our potential sister city are engaged, but not yet married.

We explore possible educational, tourist, cultural, and economic development exchanges and activities.  Is there enough interest in Sarasota to support a prospective new sister city?  Is the foreign city has to be strongly interested in contributing to the success of this twining.  Only then, after this long, thoughtful process, is a city recommended for twinning with us.

I tell you all this to let you know that we have made a new friend.  Under the careful tutelage of Primo and Ruth Bader and the Swiss-American Club,  Rapperswil-Jona has been proposed as a new friendship city from Switzerland.

SISTER CITY PLAQUES IN BAYFRONT ARE CRUMBLING?!?!
In Bayfront Park, there is a sidewalk where a tree has been planted by the city for each of our new sister cities.  Each tree has a plaque in front of it telling which sister city it was planted for and the date.

A recent letter from the city suggested that the plaques before each tree were in bad shape.  To that end, Ray Young (chair), Gloria Grenier, Dave Harralson, and Bill Wallace visited Bayfront to examine the condition of the plaques.

We found that as the trees have grown, their roots are are pushing the plaques (on concrete bases) out of the ground and most of them are now askew.  Our committee has suggested that the City reseat the plaques.  We have offered to replace the one plaque that is missing.  Some on the committee even suggested that a small sign be mounted at each end of the walk indicating that this is the Sarasota Sister Cities Walk of Trees.  Stay tuned for what happens……………….

A NEW SISTER CITY OFFICE
Office space has grown increasingly tight at City Hall, but the city manager (with the strong encouragement of Kenney DeCamp) has found us a new office in the old but beautiful Federal Building at the corner of Ringling Blvd. and

We now have a much larger office with storage space.   We moved in late October.  Thanks for your effort Kenney.

WHEN I COLLECT A LITTLE MORE NEWS, YOU’LL HEAR FROM ME AGAIN!   THAT IS—IF YOU WANT TO HEAR FROM ME AGAIN!


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